Saudi Arabia's new Gas Initiative and its encouragement to foreign companies to invest in gas projects and other ventures has prompted Saudi Valves Manufacturing Est (SVM) to have a technical tie-up with a top US manufacturer in the field of cast steel and stainless steel valves Ñ GWC-Kinka

"With their assistance we will be able to introduce their brand for the petrochemical industries," said Yusuf Bukhari, SVM managing director.

"We have the capability and experience for manufacturing cast steel valves and very soon we will be marketing these valves along with our already popular ductile iron valves of different types for various applications under a technical agreement with Erhard Gmbh & Co," said Bukhari.

The company also manufactures custom-made flange adaptors and pipe couplings.

Water-related industries account for 50 per cent of the SVM market, followed by Sabic affiliates, 30 per cent, and contractors, 20 per cent.

The company has supplied its valves to the Saline Water Conversion Corp (SWCC) for the desalination plant in Shoiba, The Water & Sewerage Directorate (WSD) throughout Saudi Arabia, Saudi Aramco, Gulf Petrochemical Industries Co (GPIC), Bahrain; Kuwait National Petroleum Corp (KNPC), Kuwait, and many major contractors dealing with these organisations.

The SVM factory, situated at Madinat Al-Jubail Al-Sinaiyah, Eastern Province, and covering an area of 5,040 sq m, was the first valve manufacturer to manufacture cast steel valves in Saudi Arabia.

SVM also has the distinction of receiving the ISO 9001-2000 quality certificate issued by Bureau Veritas Quality International, the first valves manufacturer in Saudi Arabia to receive such a certificate.

"Clients, are very cautious of quality and service and evaluate their purchases on the reliability of suppliers and not just the price of the valves, since by saving at present they might loose heavily in the future if the valves fail in the pipelines," said Bukhari.

SVM has manufactured and maintained top-quality valves, provided services of the highest standards and received appreciation from various companies including Sabic industries, Saudi Aramco, The Water & Sewerage Directorate and SWCC.

The company not only produces quality valves both in ductile iron and cast steel but also refurbishes other brands of valves used by the Sabic Group and other contractors. Its capability to perform on-site repairs through the use of portable lapping machines has helped increase services to its various clients.

"Our various refurbishing works done in the factory have assisted Sabic industries during their shut-down periods when the valves were refurbished in a record time, thus saving Sabic industries from incurring heavy losses," said Bukhari.

"To further enhance our refurbishment and manufacturing activities, SVM has procured new equipment for the steel grit blasting system and safety valves testing. Additionally it plans to procure automatic welding and surface finishing machinery to meet the growing demands of our clientele."